 Dear reader,
Once held up as a great equalizer in our fractured society, higher education now faces serious questions about its value and the hefty debt many students take on to pursue degrees. In our reporting, we’ve uncovered hidden ways that students are trapped in debt, including the practice of for-profit colleges lending directly to students and later withholding transcripts and degrees from students to force them to pay.
Last week, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced that it was putting an end to this practice, calling it “abusive” and a violation of federal law. Our story on the CFPB announcement, along with our earlier reporting on the unregulated world of direct loans to students, also appeared in The New York Times, one of our many partners. We’re proud of this work, and hope you will get in touch and let us know what you think.
We have many other higher education stories to share with you this week, including a look at eliminating grades for college freshmen, lagging enrollment for Black students at state flagship universities, and new questions about segregation by college major. And on the early education through K-12 front, we take you inside a Tulsa, Oklahoma, study that found lasting pre-K benefits, explain more about the agenda of Moms for Liberty, dissect chronic absences post-pandemic and explore why some students with disabilities are being sent home from school in a practice known as informal removal.
I’m going to conclude with a plea. All of this work takes months of time, planning and coordination, and your support makes it possible. Please encourage others to sign up for our newsletters and, if you can, become a member or send a donation to The Hechinger Report. We cannot do this without help from our readers.
Liz Willen, Editor
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